GUILTY IN - Melinda Lindsey, 23, shot to death, Porter County, 16 Jan 2015 - #1

[MyBelle]

Huh?! I'm not sure how defending the victim can be misconstrued as defending her murderer...

Anyway there were comments on the thankfully deleted thread and a couple of deleted posts here that refer to Melinda's past work and her husbands marital status when they met which reads as gossipy and cruel.

I suppose this upsets me as my 21 year old cousin was a dancer at a gentleman's club, her mother was dying and she did it to help pay for home care nursing and the hours let her stay with her mother during the day and work while she slept. She was viciously stalked and murdered by an ex boyfriend and all the media focused on was that she was an exotic dancer, it all goes to dehumanising the victim and painting them as less innocent and more worthy of murder.

I have no doubt SL's ex wife is devastated, I am sorry for bringing her into it although it seems to be those that know her that dragged her into all this.

I am so sorry about your cousin. Domestic violence is at an epidemic level across the board and I hope the media has finally figured out that the victim isn't to blame.

JMO

 

[Snowhite]

Sorry about your cousin.Thats horrible.Supposedly from reading what was reported ...Melinda had a stalker.Possibly she has filed reports about this besides Steve's word...Which will come out at the trial I assume if in fact she did.....she had a gun,so I assume she purchased that for a reason...A stalker knows a persons habits and what not...if she was a dancer or was, its not so far fetched to assume someone was watching her...stalking her.I looked on the internet and saw photos of her....just gorgeous...I'm certainly not defending the accussed ...but most posters on here have him convicted and found guilty.I'm assuming they know him personally which I do not.

 

[Tina Grant]

This is my opinion only, but in what fantasy world does someone enter a house, intent on murdering someone and they don't even bring their own weapon? Instead, they somehow manage to get past a huge dog, choke out the husband and not even bother to bind his legs and then go about looking for a weapon in which to commit a murder?

How could the intruder be so certain that the husband wasn't going to suddenly "come to", get up on his feet and put up a hell of a resistance?

And throughout all this, we're supposed to believe that Melinda DID NOT WAKE UP!!!! That's the part I can't get past. The husband's story is so far-fetched it beggars belief.

 

[Tina Grant]

Supposedly from reading what was reported ...Melinda had a stalker.Possibly she has filed reports about this besides Steve's word...Which will come out at the trial I assume if in fact she did.....she had a gun,so I assume she purchased that for a reason...A stalker knows a persons habits and what not...if she was a dancer or was, its not so far fetched to assume someone was watching her...stalking her.

If she did have a stalker, wouldn't she lock her doors? I've BTDT, and believe me, I turned my place into a fortress. There was NO WAY I went to sleep without checking and rechecking the doors and windows. There was no sign of forced entry to the Lindsey's home. That to me makes the whole stalker scenario unbelievable.

 

[charminglane]

Dogs sense fear.
If the dog was not afraid and whining or barking, then imo, it knew the perp and was not scared.

 

[BrownRice]

The stalker story will just lend credibility to the prosecutor's argument about this being premeditated for insurance money.

 

[Tina Grant]

The stalker story will just lend credibility to the prosecutor's argument about this being premeditated for insurance money.

I agree. It looks very much like he was attempting to set up a scenario a lawyer could use to create reasonable doubt. JMO of course.

 

[ArabianLover]

Dogs sense fear.
If the dog was not afraid and whining or barking, then imo, it knew the perp and was not scared.

And the baby found standing calmly in her crib. THat speaks volumes too. If some stranger had dragged her unconscience father into her room, that baby would have been crying.

 

[ArabianLover]

The stalker story will just lend credibility to the prosecutor's argument about this being premeditated for insurance money.

It will be interesting to see who filed the police reports (if there are any police reports) and who saw what. My feeling is that Steven Lindsey "invented" this stalker to divert attention away from himself. Again, who walks up to a house and opens the door to toss in lingere? How do you know the dog won't eat your arm off?

I have had the misfortune of being stalked. As the others have mentioned, you check and double check the locks on your house. And with a baby in the house too? I'm surprised she could sleep at all. No way would she just leave the doors unlocked.

I don't think her owning a gun points to her knowing about the stalker. From what I could gather from her F/b page, she was somewhat of a tom-boy type; outdoorsy; liked to hunt and fish.

 

[Tina Grant]

It will be interesting to see who filed the police reports (if there are any police reports) and who saw what. My feeling is that Steven Lindsey "invented" this stalker to divert attention away from himself. Again, who walks up to a house and opens the door to toss in lingere? How do you know the dog won't eat your arm off?

I have had the misfortune of being stalked. As the others have mentioned, you check and double check the locks on your house. And with a baby in the house too? I'm surprised she could sleep at all. No way would she just leave the doors unlocked.

I don't think her owning a gun points to her knowing about the stalker. From what I could gather from her F/b page, she was somewhat of a tom-boy type; outdoorsy; liked to hunt and fish.

The last line of her obit mentioned that she liked to shoot guns. And EVEN IF she bought the gun because she was nervous about a stalker (but not nervous enough to lock her doors), would she have left it out in plain sight with a two year old in the house? Going by her FB page, she doted on that child. Highly unlikely she would leave a loaded gun lying about.

 

[FDLibra]

What caught my attention was a statement from Steven from the article I posted earlier. He stated that she was given the gun, that was used in her murder, from someone named "Trinidad." Was this a registered firearm? I am not familiar with IN gun laws, but where I'm from, when I go register a firearm, I can't be vague. An "Oh, I bought it from Trinidad" wouldn't fly.

The last line of her obit mentioned that she liked to shoot guns. And EVEN IF she bought the gun because she was nervous about a stalker (but not nervous enough to lock her doors), would she have left it out in plain sight with a two year old in the house? Going by her FB page, she doted on that child. Highly unlikely she would leave a loaded gun lying about.

 

[Snowhite]

Yes, it will be interesting to see if she filed police reports...that will tell a lot....also, who took out the Life Insurance Policy? Do you know for a fact it was the accussed?Was he so stupid he would zip tie himself but leave gun powder residue on his hands?? The stalker could have been someone who they know...a wolf in sheeps clothing.A kind of "If I Can't have Her No One Can," scenario so the stalker sets this up to frame the accussed...I know, I watch too many crime shows.

 

[ArabianLover]

Yes, it will be interesting to see if she filed police reports...that will tell a lot....also, who took out the Life Insurance Policy? Do you know for a fact it was the accussed?Was he so stupid he would zip tie himself but leave gun powder residue on his hands?? The stalker could have been someone who they know...a wolf in sheeps clothing.A kind of "If I Can't have Her No One Can," scenario so the stalker sets this up to frame the accussed...I know, I watch too many crime shows.

In order for the stalker theory to work, there would have been an indication of an intruder. There was snow on the ground the day of the murder. There were no indications of an intruder at all. And I'm back to the baby being calm while her father is wrestled into her room and remaining calm, the dogs not tearing this guy up, etc. Could he be so stupid? Thankfully, yes. It's the screw-ups that usually get them caught.

 

[molly1255]

I cannot wrap my brain around how a "stalker" who was bent on murder would come into the home and not bring his own weapon. He had to take care of the husband, go to the bedroom where the wife is, finds her gun and use it on her and was apparently not concerned the husband might come to, get up on his feet and charge the stalker/intruder.

How would the stalker/intruder know just how long the husband would be unconscious as he went about doing these other things? There are also no footprints in the snow to show how this person got in or out of the house.

The police found the husband on his knees in the baby's room. Why did he just kneel there? He could have gotten up on his feet and checked on his wife if he was so worried about her. IMO, it is very unlikely that the husband was chocked out and left unconscious in a kneeling position. If he had been unconscious, he would not have had the ability to kneel. He would have been slumped on the floor.

And then we have the lack of a confrontation by the dog/dogs. And the baby is not upset when the police show up.

 

[HistoryNut]

According to the newspapers, he took out the life insurance policy. I believe this is true because not just anyone can take out a life insurance policy on someone. You must have an insurable interest and that is typically a spouse or a close relative who would suffer financially if that person were to die. When the husband tried to cash in on the policy, this obviously established the motive for her death by the authorities and the arrest was made.

But, since the victim was a 23 year-old stay at home mom without an income, it begs the question of HOW he was able to get a $1+ million policy. That is a huge policy which is almost always only underwritten for someone with high earning potential. For this reason, I'm sure this will come under great scrutiny during the trial.

You ask if he was so stupid to zip tie himself and leave gun powder residue on his hands, and I believe the answer is a resounding "yes". I think the guy is a narcissist and thought he was smarter than the investigators. But, he was having financial and marital problems and his solution was to stage her murder in order to get the life insurance money. He set the wheels in motion when he invented an intruder in advance who supposedly left lingerie inside the house to take the focus off of him. Since they were separated, he figured out a way to talk the victim into letting him spend the night and then coldly carried out his crime and tried to make it look like and intruder did it. As the newspapers have stated, however, there were no footprints in the snow outside of the house or any signs of a break-in. In addition, the child and dog were calm, which is highly unlikely if there had been an intruder. Add in the gunpowder residue, the lose zip ties and the insurance policy and you have the murderer.

 

[Snowhite]

I read the article..it said "Officers saw no evidence that anyone had approached the home from the nearby woods, there were no shoe prints by the windows and there was no sign of a struggle in the child's bedroom"....what it doesn't say has me curious...was the walkway or driveway shoveled ?? All stalkers don't come out of the woods or run away in the woods...as I said...this could have been someone who was was familiar with the house, the victim etc...and the child not being upset...if she woke up and saw her dad maybe she wouldn't be upset.....it also said he called 911 and then his brother and 911 again ? I can understand that as well...He called for help, he called his brother to come and get his daughter out of there?Since he had been living with his Brother prior I don't find that call unusual at all... Not sure why he would call 911 again...possibly in shock and wanted them to get there?

 

[Tina Grant]

I read the article..it said "Officers saw no evidence that anyone had approached the home from the nearby woods, there were no shoe prints by the windows and there was no sign of a struggle in the child's bedroom"....what it doesn't say has me curious...was the walkway or driveway shoveled ?? All stalkers don't come out of the woods or run away in the woods...as I said...this could have been someone who was was familiar with the house, the victim etc...and the child not being upset...if she woke up and saw her dad maybe she wouldn't be upset.....it also said he called 911 and then his brother and 911 again ? I can understand that as well...He called for help, he called his brother to come and get his daughter out of there?Since he had been living with his Brother prior I don't find that call unusual at all... Not sure why he would call 911 again...possibly in shock and wanted them to get there?

In the photo taken that morning at the crime scene is looks as if the driveway is partially cleared, possibly by drifting snow. It doesn't looks shoveled, and you can't see a clear path to the front door at all. Of course it's not a great shot, but ... it doesn't look to me like a stalker could have approached the front door without leaving prints. And the neighbors didn't see anything, but of course it was early in the morning. To me the most telling evidence is that the door was unlocked, the fact that she was shot with her own gun, and the gunshot residue on his hands.

http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/...cle_05b58f52-3db5-5599-a4f8-0ee0a6268c91.html

 

[michmi]

Yes, it will be interesting to see if she filed police reports...that will tell a lot....also, who took out the Life Insurance Policy? Do you know for a fact it was the accussed?Was he so stupid he would zip tie himself but leave gun powder residue on his hands?? The stalker could have been someone who they know...a wolf in sheeps clothing.A kind of "If I Can't have Her No One Can," scenario so the stalker sets this up to frame the accussed...I know, I watch too many crime shows.

There was a statement earlier in this thread that he was a very smart person. No, he isn't. A child could have concocted a better lead-up and story about what happened than he has.

His part in all of this is seen by him through the filter of whatever personality disorder(s) he has, where everything he says and does is reasonable and plausible.

 

[Snowhite]

I saw no article that he was the one that took out the Insurance Policy...where did you see that? It will be interesting at trial these things...Did she ever report being stalked?? and about the Insurance Policy and when it was taken out...I googled the victim...I'm in no way slamming her profession but her picture appears on a Billboard.She herself might have taken out the policy when she was making money to insure her daughter was cared for in the event something happened to her?..its not off base to say that she could have had a stalker or many stalkers...or even a friend /wolf in sheep clothing... that was jealous of her...I have no dog in this fight...I'm elderly and live far away from Indiana and have always been interested in true crime.This case perked my interest...Did you ever hear of Rebecca Zahau who was found hanging from the balcony of her 54-year-old pharmaceutical billionaire boyfriend Jonah Shacknai's mansion in Coronado, California. Zahau was naked, with a t-shirt wrapped around her neck, her hands tied behind her back, and her feet bound and it was ruled a suicide??? I mention this because anything is possible until proven beyond a reasonable doubt in a Court of law...

 

[ArabianLover]

But, since the victim was a 23 year-old stay at home mom without an income, it begs the question of HOW he was able to get a $1+ million policy. That is a huge policy which is almost always only underwritten for someone with high earning potential. For this reason, I'm sure this will come under great scrutiny during the trial

This has always bothered me too.